On the complex ballot paper, which had ten sections, Paunde topped the list of male central committee members seeking re-election. He won 1,438 votes (77.4 per cent) of the 1,858 delegates who took part in the election, thus beating all the veterans of the national liberation struggle, and all members of the government who were standing.
The candidate with the second most votes (77.29 per cent) was former defence minister Alberto Chipande, who is usually credited with firing the first shots in the independence war on 25 September 1964.
Veteran nationalist and founder member of Frelimo, Marcelino dos Santos was third in this section, with 72.6 per cent.
He was followed by former Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi, with 63.35 per cent, a remarkably good result for someone who has been working outside of Mozambique for much of the past decade.
The rest of the top ten candidates in this category were the former mayor of Maputo, Eneas Comiche (62.7 per cent), Prime Minister Aires Ali (61.03), the head of the Frelimo mobilization and propaganda department, Edson Macuaucua (60.76), Samora Machel Junior (“Samito”), son of the country’s first president Samora Machel (60.71), Raimundo Pachinuapa, a prominent commander in the liberation war (59.85), and Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco (58.86).
The women’s section of Central Committee members seeking re-election was topped by the President of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Veronica Macamo, with 87.19 per cent, followed by the head of the Frelimo parliamentary group, Margarida Talapa (85.52).
In third position was Samora Machel’s widow, Graca Machel (75.83), while the Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashalua, came fourth (70.99).
The others who made it into the top ten of the women’s list were Marina Pachinuapa, a founder member of the Frelimo Women’s Detachment during the war (66.09), Environment Minister Alcinda Abreu (65.98), Nyeleti Mondlane, daughter of the founder and first President of Frelimo, Eduardo Mondlane (65.88), former Prime Minister Luisa Diogo (63.99), Deolinda Guezimane, who also served in the women’s detachment of the guerrilla army (59.1), and Conceita Sortane, of the outgoing Central Committee secretariat (58.02).
Members of the government dominated the section of the ballot paper reserved for new blood, candidates who were not part of the outgoing Central Committee. Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi topped the men’s list in this section with 67.33 per cent, followed by Finance Minister Manuel Chang (59.04), Defence Minister Filipe Nyussi (54.47) and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Mateus Kida (50.54).
The top women newcomers were the Minister in the Presidency for Parliamentary and Municipal Affairs, Adelaide Amurane (59.74) and the Minister for Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare, Iolanda Cintura (52.58).
The section on the ballot paper for young candidates (under 35 years old), was easily topped by the official government spokesperson and Deputy Justice Minister, Alberto Nkutumula, on 77.93 per cent.
In a new section for “Economic and Social Areas”, which did not exist in previous Central Committee elections, the men’s list was topped by the chairperson of the cell phone company M-Cel(and previous holder of various government positions, such as Information Minister and Labour Minister), Teodato Hunguana, with 74.11 per cent.
He was followed by the chairperson of the port and rail company (CFM), Rosario Mualeia (72.71) and the chairperson of the Insitec group of companies, Celso Correia (59.2).
At the top of the women’s part of this section was former deputy health minister Aida Libombo (80.25), followed by the Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Council, Joana Mangueira (35.79).
Perhaps the greatest surprise was the election of businesswoman Valentina Guebuza, daughter of President Armando Guebuza, in the section reserved for veterans of the liberation struggle, even though she was born after the end of the independence war. She won 72.2 per cent of the votes.
Interviewed by the independent television station STV, Guebuza said she had been proposed by other veterans, using a clause in the statutes of the Association of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, which grants the children of veterans the status of veterans.
Perhaps the most prominent of those who lost their seats on the Central Committee was Jorge Rebelo, who was once the head of the Frelimo Ideology Department. His was the most critical voice at the Congress, calling for more open debate within Frelimo.
“We have heard that the media are being repressed because of the criticisms they raise”, he said, “From the moment that we shut the valve and the media don’t say what they think, suspicions are raised. People need a safety valve”.
He also warned of the dangers to national unity arising from speeches of some leading figures which posed “genuine” against “non-genuine” Mozambicans, and noted that, in the days of Samora Machel, “minorities were not manufactured in this country”.
“I don’t know whether I’m genuine or not”, he added. “Is it because of the colour of one’s skin?”
Another member of the Frelimo leadership under Samora Machel, former security minister Jacinto Veloso, also failed to be re-elected. Two other figures from Samora Machel’s politbureau, former Prime Minister Mario Machungo, and former Minister of State Administration, Oscar Monteiro, did not stand for re-election.
The most surprising casualty was Teodoro Waty, a member of the outgoing Frelimo Political Commission, and head of the parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commission. Since he failed to be re-elected to the Central Committee, Waty cannot be a candidate for the new Political Commission.
Among other candidates whose bids for re-election failed were the former chief of staff of the armed forces, Antonio Hama Thai, former health minister Ivo Garrido, the chairperson of the brewing company CDM, Isidora Faztudo, and two of Frelimo’s main parliamentary orators, Alfredo Gamito and Edmundo Galiza-Matos Junior.
The election took less than two hours, and occurred in two phases – first the Congress delegates confirmed by acclamation the election of 116 members of the Central Committee at the 11 provincial conferences that preceded the Congress. Then they filled out their ballot papers for the remaining 62 seats at stake.
Counting the ballot papers, with their five sections, each divided into men’s and women’s lists, took until early evening. The electoral commission announced that, of the 1,858 delegates present, 1,809 had cast valid ballots. There were also 25 blank ballots, and 24 invalid ones.
At its first meeting, the new Central Committee must elect the Party’s general secretary, the secretary of the Verification Commission (the Frelimo disciplinary body), the Political Committee, and the Secretariat, responsible for the day-to-day running of the party.
Post published in: Africa News